Sir Handel (Season 4)
Sir Handel, named after the Skarloey Railway's first owner, Sir Handel Brown I - but previously Falcon, after the works where he was made - is a narrow-gauge tank engine. He speaks with a Welsh accent. Bio Falcon was built at Falcon Works, Loughborough, for the Mid Sodor Railway. He was a 0-4-0ST, causing him to bounce until he was rebuilt with a rear pony truck. When the Mid Sodor Railway closed in 1947, he and Stuart were sold to the aluminium works at Peel Godred for an expansion project. They were sheeted at the project's close for almost a year, then both were purchased for a total of fifty pounds by the Skarloey Railway and renamed Sir Handel and Peter Sam respectively. Sir Handel did not cope well with the worn track on the rail-way and would often derail - some-times deliberately. He was given a pair of special wheels with broad tyres to cure this problem, dubbed "steam roller wheels" by the other engines. In 1983, Sir Handel visited the Talyllyn Railway to help while Talyllyn was being mended. Sir Handel had plenty of adventures there, like pulling a wedding train and having to wear an eyepatch after colliding with a tree at Nant Gwernol. When Peter Sam was brought back from the Talyllyn Railway early during a visit in 1995 Sir Handel became jealous and as a protest deliberately knocked out his firebars. He was sent to the shed and began to fear that he would never come out after weeks went by and no one came to see him. When The Thin Controller came in one day Sir Handel confessed and asked for a second chance. Sir Handel got his firebars later that day - no one bothered to tell him that they had only just arrived. He is presently on the Talyllyn Railway. Sir Handel didn't reappear until years later, apparently because he was working in the stone quarry. When he returned, he had a much different attitude. He did his jobs without complaining, and had trouble getting up hills. He is also wiser in most situations, but in some cases he is still pompous. Persona Sir Handel is sometimes pompous and arrogant and thinks that pulling trucks is beneath him, and will do anything to get out of jobs he does not want to do. He can be rude and stubborn, and he has been known to insult Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima and Beatrice by calling them "cattle trucks" and Ada, Jane & Mabel by calling them "trucks". Basis Sir Handel is based on the Talyllyn Railway's Sir Haydn, approx. 16' 6 1/2". Livery Sir Handel was painted blue until coming to work on the Skarloey Railway, where he was painted in the Skarloey Railway's red livery and blue-and-yellow lining. Since 1987, he is painted blue with red and yellow lining. Voice Actor *Keith Wickham Trivia *Sir Handel's whistle sounds like one low toot and a medium toot in that order.